[Ailist] Re: Applying leeches?

[Cheri Torres]

Nancy,

I wonder if it is that simple?  Are there organizational cultures that are
not ready to move to a more flat, empowered base, but nonetheless are ready
to change in other ways?  Asking leadership if they are ready to empower
everyone seems to begin with the assumption that that is what is either best
for the organization, the next step in organizational evolution for that
particular organization, or that the leadership ought to be letting go of
the reigns. I wonder if that is true for all organizations...

I'm wondering about a set of questions that would actually help change
agents assess where an organization is in their "organizational
development":  what are they doing (mission), who are the members and what
value systems and life conditions are they dealing with?  (Taken from spiral
dynamics).  I'm thinking that the kinds of changes that could be successful
might well be governed by this--that wonderful change processes fail when
attempted in a culture that can't speak the language (so to speak). 

Does this make any sense?

Cheri
-----Original Message-----
From: Nancy Stetson [mailto:nancy at sonic.net] 
Sent: Wednesday, April 16, 2008 1:21 PM
To: Cheri Torres
Cc: ailist at lists.business.utah.edu
Subject: RE: [Ailist] Re: Applying leeches?

>Cheri,

I think the question to ask the leadership is, are you willing to empower
your employees? In other words, can you let go of the command and control
mindset of the bureaucracy in order to allow full employee engagement?

Nancy

>Well said, Nancy.  And in which case, how would an organization assess its
>own culture to know whether it is a fit for AI?  What questions would they
>need to ask the leadership? 
>
>It would be interesting to actually match organizational change processes
to
>organizational cultures.  Perhaps this is the level at which we would
>discover that anything can work and it depends upon the individual
>organization (as you suggest, Nancy). 
>
>I believe that the Spiral Dynamics folks may have done this already.  Which
>inspires me to ask--perhaps the better assessment mechanism is to do a
>cultural assessment and then pick the "change paradigm(s)" that correlate
>with one's culture.
>
>Has anyone been working in this way?
>
>Cheri
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Nancy Stetson [mailto:nancy at sonic.net]
>Sent: Tuesday, April 15, 2008 8:30 PM
>To: Cheri Torres
>Cc: ailist at lists.business.utah.edu
>Subject: RE: [Ailist] Re: Applying leeches?
>
>>Cheri,
>
>I guess I would say that one would decide whether or not a process (or
>paradigm) like AI "works", based on the desirability of the "outcomes" or
>"results" of working with the process or way of doing business.  I think
>change is situational and depends on all kinds of things, NONE of which
>likely could be replicated in a different situation.  That's what I mean by
>not cause and effect, or linear.  Human systems are like networks, webs;
>they branch out in MANY different directions, all at once, and perhaps
never
>the same way twice :)
>
>Nancy
>

-- 
Nancy E. Stetson, Ed.D., Educational Advisor
FINTELO - Finish the Distance: Online Management Software
www.fintelo.com - "You owe it to your students to see Fintelo in action."

Also, Consultant, Executive Coach and Faculty Mentor

"The task of leadership is to create an alignment of strengths,
making our weaknesses irrelevant." Peter Drucker